99% Invisible Mini-Stories: Volume 8
Jan 7, 2020
Join Joe Rosenberg, a producer, as he reveals the astonishing tale of Britain's historical war bonds that take nearly a century to settle. Sean Real, a composer, dives into the riveting evolution of concert pitch and its international ramifications. Katie Mingle, a senior producer, shares the mystery of an abandoned Argentine diplomatic mansion in D.C. Finally, Delaney Hall takes us back to the Manhattan Project, highlighting a baby boom amidst top-secret projects. From finance to forgotten properties, these stories explore the quirky side of our built world.
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Transcript
Episode notes
Collecting on the Bond
- Tim Young, curator at Yale, traveled to Holland to collect on the bond.
- The bond acts as its own ID, requiring physical presentation for collection like cash.
Concert Pitch
- Concert pitch, the standard tuning for orchestras, is currently 440 hertz.
- Hertz measures the frequency of a sound wave's oscillations per second.
Tuning Discrepancies
- Historically, concert pitch varied widely, causing issues for musicians and singers.
- Orchestras tuned higher in large halls to compensate for bass traveling further than higher notes.